Basutoland; Its Legends and Customs (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. MANNER OF CULTIVATING THE SOIL?GRAIN? HARVEST-FOOD ? MANNER OF EATING ? RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY?IMPORTS?STATUS OF WOMEN?CHILDREN?RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS ?MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS?HEATHEN SCHOOLS ?AMUSEMENTS. THE way in which the ground was cultivated prior to the introduction of spades and hoes, was not calculated to produce heavy crops, yet so rich is the soil that the grain sown came up splendidly, and provided neither locusts nor drought visited the land, heavy crops were yielded. The implements used were small iron hoes, which the Basuto made out of the iron found in the country. After melting the iron, they hit it into flat pieces about twice the size of a man's hand, and very much that shape. The part corresponding to the human arm was forced, when hot, into the end of a long thick stick; the other end was sharpened on the hard flint stones brought for that purpose from the Malutis. With these hoes the Basuto chopped up the ground, the seed having been scattered first of all on the undisturbed surface. When weeding-time came, the Basuto took shortthick sticks, which they sharpened with their knives, The weeding is always done by the women. In drought the women used to carry water in their earthenware pots to water the lands, even the small children helping in this work. A knife was merely a flat strip of native iron about as broad as two fingers and sharpened round the edges. The seeds used by the Basuto were millet, or Kaffir corn, maize, or mealies, and a species of sweet reed known as IntsueY' also pumpkins, and in times of famine they lived upon the seed of the long rank grass, which they call Moseka. When the crops were ripe the whole village went out to gather them. The pumpkins were stored in empty huts, the ripe heads o...